


Red Mirage

by AvaCelt



Series: 2020 Bollywood Prompt Fills [12]
Category: Gintama
Genre: F/M, Gen, Ghost Pains, Inspired by Bollywood, Introspection, Pining, Pre Silver Soul Arc, you know how tsukki's in love but won't say it??? yeah it be like that sometimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27872377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvaCelt/pseuds/AvaCelt
Summary: Tsukuyou forgot about the pain and thought about eyes that were as bloody and potent as the light cutting across the sky. [pre-Silver Soul Arc, one-sided!GinTsu, pining!Tsukuyou]
Relationships: Sakata Gintoki/Tsukuyo
Series: 2020 Bollywood Prompt Fills [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1969198
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12





	Red Mirage

**Author's Note:**

> This fic takes place pre-Silver Soul Arc, while Gintoki is away in Rakuyou doing Gintoki things.

She doubled over as if punched square in the stomach. Her core burned hot with agony, and her mind rang with alarm. For ten seconds, she thought there was a bullet where her navel should be, and so she waited, just long enough grab the wooden railing for purchase before shakily moving her other hand from her core.

She looked down and saw nothing.

“Tsukuyou?” Hinowa called from her place on the balcony. “Are you alright?”

“Fine!” she yelled back, pushing wooden splinters into the folds of her calloused palms as the pain in her core continued to burn. “I'll be right back!”

She moved away from the entrance to the balcony and found herself stumbling to the restroom in the hall. Once she was inside, she shut the door and slide down to the ground.

The setting sunset streamed through a small, rectangular window above the toilet. From Tsukuyo's position, the patch of light was positioned directly on her chest, right below the base of her throat. Without the lights, it looked pleasant – pretty even.

Tsukuyou forgot about the pain momentarily, and thought about the dead-eyed man whose eyes would often turn a dark red, as potent as the light cutting across the sky.

She gasped when the pain intensified, and found herself doubling over again as she clutched her stomach over the thick fabric of her yukata. The pain began to spread. It reached into the nooks in her arms and shoulders, and had her squeezing her toes as the tingling sensation of cramps began to burn in her feet. She choked down a sob when another stab of pain shot through her core.

She sat there on the floor wheezing through her nose for several minutes, thinking of dead eyes, red eyes, silvery threads of hair caked in blood, dark red blood that dripped on wet concrete, beautiful silver locks washed in grime and agony, beautiful red eyes as dead as the rest of some cold, rainy world.

When Tsukuyou opened her eyes again, she found that the pain had receded, leaving only a tingling sensation behind. When she released her arms again, she found that there was nothing on the front of her yukata except the the dim, red light of the setting sun outside.

She let her head slump against the door as the sun slowly disappeared over the horizon.

“Tsukuyou-nee, are you in there?” Seita called from behind the door in a worried tone.

“I'm fine,” she managed to rasp out, followed by a dry laugh. “Stomach hurts, be back in a bit.”

“I'll get some medicine for you and leave it in front of the door!” The boy called out loud, and Tsukuyou wondered if the whole street heard him.

The thought brought a smile to her face and she couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. In Yoshiwara, the thought would have been unheard of before the days of Gintoki Sakata, but it was a new night now. Now, the women could have their children and raise them. Now, there were children who cried and squealed, and brought their mothers milk from the grocery store. It was a new night – a beautiful night.

But they weren't underground tonight. They were in the land up above, under the cover of the true sky, a sky that was so blood red that it was finally bleeding into black. They'd come up to haggle prices for rich new fabric, and visit Seita's old friends. It wasn't like before, when there was only Tsukuyou and her soldiers, with Hinowa locked away beneath the folds of an elaborate kimono. This was a brand new night, a night where Hinowa wheeled herself down the less bumpy sidewalks with her son in tow as Tsukuyou kept watch, as she promised she always would. It was a new world.

And she'd hoped to see the bringer of that new world, but he was no where to be found. Out poking his nose in other people's business, according to the old lady at the snackshop, but Tsukuyou knew that, that man never minded his own business when it came to the things and people he cared about.

She knew that he was off saving someone else's world, just like he'd once saved hers.

“Did you get hurt, you bastard?” She found herself muttering with a pained smile. “Did you astral project into my body just so I could feel you getting stabbed?” She found tears prickling in her eyes as the smile grew on her face.

“Tsukuyou,” now Hinowa called from behind the door. “I've brought some underwear, pads, and painkillers. Let me know if you need a fresh set of clothes.”

Hinowa's voice was as kind and nurturing as it's always been, and she was waiting on her. She thought about the red eyes that changed that, the one who changed a prisoner into a mother, into a friend.

“Thank you,” Tsukuyou said finally.

“You're welcome,” Hinowa said softly. Tsukuyou waited for the sounds of Hinowa's wheels to recede before she rose from her seat on the ground and flicked the lights on.

But before she left, she turned back to the little window again, and stared at the blackening sky. There were few stars in this part of Edo. Too much light pollution, according to Seita, but Tsukuyou didn't care. The city lights illuminated the real sky differently than the way red lights lit up the streets of Yoshiwara. These lights were less harsh, and they faded if you left the city limits. You could see the heavens if you went far enough.

“Come back in one piece, bastard,” she whispered at the sky beyond the window.

She made sure to wipe away all of her tears before leaving the restroom. She couldn't have anyone misconstruing her feelings. She didn't _care_ if he wasn't above the snackshop, and that they hadn't been able to share a drink with them and make idle chat. She was mad for Seita, who'd really wanted to see him and the two children he looked after because he considered them friends. Yes – she was mad at red eyes for making Seita sad. That was why she'd thought about him while doubled over in ghost pain, thinking about him while staring out of a little window in a rented suite at the nicest hotel in the district.

As she left, she wondered when he'd come home.

*


End file.
